PARTNERSHIP FOR A DRUG FREE AMERICA - This is your Brain on Drugs
200th page special Original (1987) DESCRIPTION: The screen fades in and we see a frying pan filled with bubbling oil. The camera slowly zooms out of it. A narrator (portrayed by John Roselius) then says "Okay, last time... This is drugs" An egg yolk falls onto the pan, frying it "This is your brain on drugs... Any questions?" The camera stops zooming and it fades to black with the PARTNERSHIP FOR A DRUG FREE AMERICA logo appearing at the end. FX: Live action MUSIC: An ominous note can be heard at the beginning SOUNDS: We can hear the pan fry the oil, and then egg yolk afterwards (which is oddly satisfying to hear). TRIVIA: The original version was directed by Joe Pytka, an award-winning filmmaker who also directed music videos and some other memorable commercials. VARIANTS: There are also 10 and 30 second versions of this PSA. The 10 second version is almost identical to the original, except it does not have the narrator say "okay, last time" at the beginning. The 30 second version, on the other hand, actually shows a man on screen demonstrating the same egg-in-frying-pan metaphor. DESCRIPTION: We see a man (played by John Roselius) in a household kitchen looking at the camera and saying "Is there anyone out there who still isn't clear about what doing drugs does? Okay, last time" The camera pans down and the man goes to a stove top, picks up an egg from a carton and starts to say the famous line: "This is your brain" He points to a frying pan on a burner "This is drugs" He cracks the egg in the pan and it sizzles. He then picks up the pan with the cooked egg in it and shows it to the viewer "This is your brain on drugs" The camera pans back up "Any questions?" The camera then fades to black with the PARTNERSHIP FOR A DRUG FREE AMERICA logo appearing at the end. AVAILABILITY (Original): Quite common, since it's a popular PSA. AVAILABILITY (Alt): Rare. Only found on a couple YouTube channels. CHEESE FACTOR: Famous YouTubers JonTron and the Nostalgia Critic have both humorously highlighted the comparison of an unhealthy brain to breakfast. Basically, the whole message could be considered misleading to some. SCARE FACTOR (Original): None to Low. The ominous note at the beginning may scare very young children at worst. SCARE FACTOR (Alt): None. The man presents himself like a friendly authority figure, making this version completely safe. OTHER: Many print ads for this PSA were also made around the same time. Here's one example. Frying Pan (Remake) (1997) For the 10 year anniversary of this PSA, a modernized and just as memorable remake was made. DESCRIPTION: A woman (played by Rachel Leigh Cook) is standing alone in a household kitchen where she speaks to the viewer: "This is your brain, and this is heroin." She holds up an egg (representing the human brain) and then a frying pan (representing heroin). "This is what happens to your brain after starting heroin" She demonstrates the damage that heroin does to the brain by placing the egg down and smashing it with the pan. She then shows the pan again with the yolk and cracked shell dripping off. "This is what your body goes through. Wait, it's not over yet" She then goes ballistic and smashes everything "THIS IS WHAT YOUR FAMILY GOES THROUGH, AND YOUR FRIENDS, AND YOUR MONEY, AND YOUR JOB, AND YOUR SELF-RESPECT AND YOUR FUTURE!" The camera quickly cuts to black with the PARTNERSHIP FOR A DRUG FREE AMERICA logo appearing while all this madness is happening, then cuts back to the woman in the now completely trashed kitchen. She finishes and calms down, setting the frying pan down. She then asks the viewer in a soft tone: "Any questions?" FX: Live action MUSIC: None SOUNDS: We hear an egg and a bunch of kitchen items getting smashed AVAILABILITY: Seen on many video sharing websites SCARE FACTOR: None to High. Everything starts out normally before Rachel does the melodramatic act where she violently trashes the kitchen, which would unsettle many viewers. TRIVIA: This PSA was parodied in a first season episode of Robot Chicken. In the sketch "Rachael Leigh Cook PSA", Cook (voiced by herself) goes even more ballistic, going out into public attacking people and destroying property with the frying pan, before hitting herself in the face with the pan and falling off a fourth-story ledge to her death. Category:PIFs Category:Drugs PIFs Category:PARTNERSHIP FOR A DRUG FREE AMERICA Category:United States of America Category:Page milestones Category:Television PIFs Category:PIFs Reviewed by The Nostalgia Critic Category:1980's PIFs Category:1990's PIFs